Northern Waterthrush and Slow Times

CAPTAIN SAMS

Slow day out on Captain Sam's today with a total of 18 captures in all. With a total of 8 species captured and almost all of our species diversity coming from recaptures it seems like not too much is moving right now, but with any luck I am hopeful we will get hit by a fresh wave of migrants soon enough. 

Given the slow conditions this does give us an opportunity to focus on one of our more common migrants. Northern Waterthrushes are an under-appreciated bird of northern forests and bogs. Unlike their larger cousins, the Louisiana Waterthrushes, Northern Waterthrushes are known for scouring the edges of swamps, bogs, and other slow-moving bodies of water as opposed to the fast-moving streams their larger, more southernly-breeding cousins prefer to haunt.

Northern Waterthrush in Hand

Currently we are seeing a lot of variation in the Northern Waterthrushes that have been coming through Kiawah with some birds having already acquired heavy fat reserves and others only possessing more modest amounts. Hopefully the more deficient amongst them are able to put on some more weight as they still have a ways to go to make the West Indies, Central, and South America (Even as far as northern Brazil!). In particular the mangrove forests of both coasts of Panama provide particularly important wintering habitat for the Northern Waterthrushes, who are true snowbirds lingering in excess of six months in the Neotropics where they actively maintain a winter territory.

Jeremiah

LITTLE BEAR

A good amount of cloud cover kept the temperatures pleasant for most of our morning at Little Bear. We had a little burst of activity for our first net run and afterward it was slow and steady for the rest of the day. We had a total of 33 birds, with 15 newly banded birds and 18 recaps. Our top species today were Northern Waterthrush (9 captures), Northern Cardinal (9 captures), Painted Bunting (8 captures), and Carolina Wren (4 captures). We caught a few other warbler species and hopefully we'll start to see more trickle in the upcoming weeks. Another slow day gave us plenty of time to take fecal samples from our Painted Buntings and record which feathers they are molting. We also captured this a Ruby-throated Hummingbird today. While we don't band hummingbirds, it was a good opportunity to learn more about them and we brought it back to the station to determine the age, sex, and take measurements. 

-Liz

Hatch year female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

 

Species	Captain Sams		Little Bear
	New	Recaps	New	Recaps
Downy Woodpecker	-	1	-	-
White-eyed Vireo	-	1	-	-
Carolina Chickadee	-	1	-	-
Carolina Wren	-	-	1	3
Northern Waterthrush	4	1	5	4
Common Yellowthroat	2	-	-	-
Hooded Warbler	-	1	-	-
American Redstart	-	-	1	-
Yellow Warbler	-	-	1	-
Prairie Warbler	-	-	1	-
Northern Cardinal	-	2	3	6
Painted Bunting	3	2	3	5

Today's Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	9	15	24
# of Recaptures	9	18	27
# of Species	8	7	12
Effort (net-hours)	144.4	148.4	292.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	6.2	22.2	17.4
# of Nets	32	28	60

2025 Fall Cumulative Banding Stats	Captain Sams	Little Bear	TOTAL
# Birds Banded	249	137	386
# of Recaptures	65	48	113
# of Species	26	21	32
Effort (net-hours)	1812.6	758.2	2570.8
Capture Rate (birds/100 net-hours)	17.3	24.4	19.4
# of Days	13	6	13

Banding Staff

Aaron Given (CS)

Michael Gamble (LB)

Liz Held (LB)

Jeremiah Sullivan (CS)

Note:  All banding, marking, and sampling is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Lab.